How to stop walking on the edge of burnout
The last few weeks have been very challenging: I’ve been feeling like I’m walking on the edge of burnout.
In the article The struggles and lessons of relapsing into burnout I talked about the breakdown I had a few weeks ago. It was the first major burnout episode since I first burned out four years ago, in late 2017.
Months of October and November have been very demanding. I had been pushing myself too much and I broke down.
My body crashed and it felt like I fell in that burned out state.
But I was able to “rise from the ashes”: my body recovered and I thought I was okay, back to my normal self, so I kept going with my life, just at a slower pace.
But the famost goes:
“Problems persist until we learn the lessons that they want to teach us.”
Needless to say, after that initial burnout episode I crashed again and since then I’ve been having a few hard days almost every single week.
One week after the first breakdown, I got sick with fever and diarrhea which put me in bed for the whole weekend. Afterwards, for the whole week I felt like I’d fallen back into that burnt out state. Weeks that followed were a bit better, but I still have had a few hard days almost every single week.
Turns out I didn’t properly recover from the first episode of burnout and problems reoccurred.
I should’ve seen it coming…
Walking on the edge on a burned out state
My off week away from my job was the toughest. During the vacations I hit my lowest point. It was a combination of several factors: my body being weak due to sickness (fever, diarrhea and burnout) and having lots of inflammation due to eating out and eating foods that don’t agree with me and also accumulated things, emotions and fatigue being released and coming up to be processed.
I was having a harder time waking up in the morning. I was more tired than usual. I had a harder time recovering. My legs — especially my quads — were feeling heavy and tired AF. I had a lot of digestive problems (constipation, indigestion and diarrhea). I didn’t have additional energy to work out. My libido was non-existent. I had anxiety in the mornings and evenings. At night my mind was racing and I didn’t sleep well, which makes it very hard to recover and get out of this burnt out state.
Although I’ve been feeling better lately compared to that week, I’m still not 100%
It’s not full-on adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome — that would have put me in hospital, unable to make it out on my own without medical help. But on those bad days I feel the symptoms of stage 3 (hypo) adrenal fatigue, where the adrenal glands are so fatigued that they struggle to do their job — producing stress and other hormones — properly.
I feel like I’m walking on the edge of a cliff and the raid is burnout. Just a few wrong decisions combined — too much caffeine, a workout that is too heavy and demanding, consuming something that doesn’t agree with my digestion, not getting enough rest, too much mental pressure — and I’m back into that hypoadrenal, burned out state.
And it sucks, to be honest, but…
In challenges lie opportunities
Although I get quite disappointed and frustrated at me and my current situation and go into victime mode — e.g. “Why did this have to happen to me?” — I’m a firm believer that everything in life happens for a reason.
Maybe the problems that are reoccurring are a sign of Life, God, Universe, Creation, or My Higher Self — whatever you want to call this Higher Power — showing me that I must change some things. Maybe I must change my lifestyle and live my life differently. Maybe I’m not on the right path and that my path and purpose lie elsewhere.
I would use the words should change but the word should doesn’t feel obligatory enough to make me change some things. I would just keep going and not fix anything.
How to stop walking on the edge of burnout?
We have to analyze our lives, come to some conclusions and make decisions to change things that are pushing us towards that prepad of burnout.
1. Eliminate stress
Stress is no. 1 culprit for many chronic diseases, it is also often the case with burnout. If we have a lot of stress in our life, it will be too much for the body to handle and you’re in danger of burning out.
The easiest way to determine stress and stressors is by analyzing what drains you and what fills up you.
After each activity — a call or meeting, work, hanging or interacting with a certain person, being in certain environments, working out, playing sport, etc — notice whether you feel better or worse than before the activity. In other words, did the activity drain you or fill you up. Do less of what drains you and more of what fill and fuel you up and bring you joy.
2. Vision of your future self
When you envision who you want to be in the future, two things happen: you acting like your best self and that vision of your future will push you forward and will give you more energy and motivation.
Make a vision of your future self. What would your best self look like? What would your best life look like? How would you feel? How would you act in everyday life? And then start acting as if you're already that person!
3. Working out
In my opinion, the best way to build strength is with weights in the gym. There are many ways to train, but when it comes to burnout, strength-based training is the right way.
Check out my article on why you shouldn’t stop working out completely if you suffer from burnout and how to train to overcome burnout.
4. Focus on recovery
Your body must have room to properly recover. If you suffer from burnout, you might find that your recovery is slower and compromised. That’s why you should incorporate some activities that will help your body recover faster.
Incorporate in your daily routine recovery activities such as yoga, stretching, cold exposure, sauna, massage, mindfulness and meditation, floatation, etc.
Time and patience
My functional medicine practitioner with whom I worked 3 years ago, once told me that I’ll overcome my burnout fully when I won’t walk on the edge of burnout for two or three years.
We have to be patient and consistent: burnout cannot be conquered in a day or in a week. Make a plan, trust the process and believe in yourself and your body!
As the body will be getting stronger, we will be able to better handle life in general and its demands.
Following the advice above will ensure that you’ll move away from the edge of burnout, your body will have a chance to heal and overtime you’ll overcome your burnout!
Great read, and totally agree with trying to avoid things that drain you, and double down on things that give you energy. Interested to know what foods disagree with you because for me, the starting point for burnout is when I’m stressed and start eating crap. Slippery slope once that happens.